48:30-34 The Lord next specified the gates of the holy city. Though Ezekiel did not name the city, Zechariah did. It is Jerusalem (Zech. 14:8). On each of its 4,500 cubit-long sides there would be three gates. The ones facing north would be named in honor of the tribes of Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), Judah (the kingly tribe), and Levi (the priestly tribe). All three of these patriarchs were Leah's sons. The gates on the east would bear the names of Joseph and Benjamin (Rachel's sons), and Dan (a son of Bilhah). The south gates would honor Simeon, Issachar, and Zebulun (Leah's other three sons). The west gates would bear the names of Gad, Asher, and Naphtali (all sons of the two handmaids, Zilpah and Bilhah). The many gates illustrate the accessibility of the city.
The New Jerusalem in the eternal state will also have three gates on each of its four sides each named for one of the 12 sons of Jacob (Rev. 21:12-13). That city will also be square, but it will be a cube or pyramid (Rev. 21:16). Also it will be very much larger (Rev. 21:16-17). Thus it seems that the eternal city will be similar to but not identical with the millennial city.
48:35 The circumference of the city proper would be 18,000 cubits, less than six miles. And its name from the day of its establishment would be "The LORD is there"(Heb. Yahweh shammah). The new name would indicate a new character, as always in Scripture, namely, that the Lord would forever reside among His people (cf. Isa. 7:14). He would never again depart from them or send them out of His land. He would forever dwell among them, and they would forever enjoy the unbroken fellowship with God that He intended since the creation of the world. The Book of Ezekiel ends with a description of a New Jerusalem like the Book of Revelation, though the New Jerusalem of Ezekiel is millennial and the New Jerusalem at the end of Revelation is eternal.
Twenty-two years and 48 chapters earlier Ezekiel began his book with a vision of a storm picturing the destruction of Old Jerusalem and, later (chs. 10-11), God's departure from it. He ended it with another vision of the establishment of New Jerusalem and God's permanent residence in it. The glory of the Lord is the unifying feature that ties the book together and runs through it from beginning to end.
